britishfood

One of my favorite memories as a child was walking along the seafront and seeing the stalls set up selling little cups of shellfish. At the time, the containers of whelks, cockles, muscles and other seafood looked horrible to me (I would only eat the prawns which were a special treat). My uncle would buy a cup of whelks and sit with a pin, pulling the meat out of the tiny shell. Now I wish I lived somewhere I could find such fresh seafood. (Kentucky is not a haven for fresh fish!)

Cockles are widely found throughout the shores of Britain and their empty shells litter the beaches, proving popular with little children. They are often eaten with just a little vinegar. They even feature in one of our most beloved folk songs which every child seems to learn: Molly Malone (with her cries of “Cockles and Muscles”).

Here’s another way of eating them:

40-50 cockles

1 oz butter

1 oz flour

1 pint whole milk

2 tbs chopped onion

2 tbs chopped celery

2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

black pepper

Scrub the cockles thoroughly under cold running water and discard any that are already open. Put them in a large saucepan and cover with cold salt water. Bring slowly to the boil. As soon as they shells open they are ready so be careful not to overcook. Allow to cool, then strain but keep the stock. Remove the cockles from their shells.

Strain the stock and bring up to 1 1/2 pints by adding water as needed. Melt the butter in a pan. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly add the cockle stock. Bring to a boil and add the milk, onion and celery. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Add the parsley and black pepper. Stir int he cockles. Heat and then serve with a nice crusty bread.

Great Britain has a coastline of some 7700 miles and nowhere in the entire nation is further than 73 miles from the sea, so it’s hardly surprising that fishing makes up a key part of the country’s history and food supply. In fact, I grew up on the coast, where fishing boats still bring their catch to shore every morning. Some of my ancestors were fishermen. So it should come as no surprise that this week I will be sharing some seafood recipes from around the British coast.

We’ll start with mackerel, pictured above.

Devon Soused Mackerel (from Salmon’s Favourite Seafood Recipes)

6 medium mackerel

1 onion, sliced

16 peppercorns

3 bay leaves

¼ pint cider vinegar

¼ pint water

Preheat oven to 350F or Gas 4. Gut and wash the fish (or you maybe able to buy them already gutted). Put them in a large baking dish and sprinkle the onion, peppercorns and bay leaves on top. Mix the vinegar and water and pour over the fish. Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Let the fish cool in the liquid then remove from pan and serve with crusty bread, lemon wedges and salad.

I know everyone always jokes about fruit cake: great to use as a doorstop; that there’s only one in the world that’s been regifted…. To be fair, there are some pretty awful examples of fruit cake. Often fruit cake is dry and hard, but good fruit cake lasts for years when stored properly. We saved one layer of our wedding cake and ate a piece each year on our anniversary until the icing was too hard to bear (the cake still tasted great though). It hadn’t been frozen, just wrapped tightly in foil and stored in an airtight container.

When I was young, my Mum would make a boiled fruit cake every week and I loved it. The recipe was boiled and resulted in a cake that was incredibly moist in the center. Here’s the recipe:

1 cup mixed dried fruit

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

4 oz butter

2 cups flour

1 egg

mixed spice

Preheat the oven to Gas 4 or 350 degrees.  On the stove top, boil the fruit, sugar, butter, and milk until the butter and sugar have melted. Leave to cool. Sieve the flour and spice into a bowl. Add the beaten egg and the milk mix. Stir well. Put into a lined, greased, cake tin.

Bake for 1 hour.

Continuing our look at Irish potato recipes, I am including two today. Enjoy!

Irish Potato Cakes (Boxty)

1 cup all-purpose flour

2tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 cup raw grated potatoes

1 cup mashed potatoes (a great way to use up leftovers from dinner)

Put the grated raw potatoes in a cheesecloth and squeeze to remove the moisture.  Mix the flour, salt and baking powde, then combine with the raw potato, mashed potato and eggs. Add enough milk to make a batter consistency.

Heat a heavy skillet and add some oil or butter. Drop spoonfuls of the potato batter into the hot oil and brown on both sides.

Some people like these served with butter, and some people like to sprinkle with sugar.

Colcannon

I first tried this when a friend arranged an Irish Day while I was living in Japan.  It’s another great variation on mashed potatoes and a way to sneak in some veggies for the kids!

3 lbs peeled potatoes

2 lbs cabbage

2 cups leeks

1/2 cup milk

salt and pepper

Cut the potatoes into chunks and boil until soft.

Wash and trim the cabbage and steam for about 10 minutes, until tender. Cool and squeeze the moisture out. Steam the leeks until softened.

Drain the potatoes and mash.  Mix in the milk, then the cabbage and leeks. Season with salt and pepper.

I know in many ways it’s a cliche, but the fact of the matter is that most people in the U.S. instantly think of potatoes when you mention Irish food, and with good reason. One of America’s largest periods of immigration saw Irish arriving in their thousands, fleeing the potato famine back home.

Originally introduced to Ireland in the 16th century, the potato soon became the staple food of the poor. Rich in nutrients, potatoes were easy to grow, easy to cook, and could be used to feed the members of the household and their animals. Unfortunately the growing reliance on potatoes meant that when the harvest was poor, everyone suffered. Potato blight caused the great famine of 1846-1849, which killed approximately 1,000,000 and saw another 2,000,000 leave for the New World.

It is not surprising then that the potato still forms a staple of many Irish dishes. Tomorrow, I’ll give you the recipes for Colcannon and Irish Potato Cakes. Meanwhile, here is a recipe for the Irish dish, Champ:

8 potatoes

small bunch spring onions (scallions)

125 ml milk

salt, pepper and a knob of butter

Peel the potatoes and boil until soft.  Drain, then put the pan back on the heat for a few minutes to help dry the potatoes out. Mash the potatoes. Chop the onions and cook them in the milk. Beat the onion and milk mix into the potatoes until you have a fluffy mash. Season with salt and pepper and serve, topped with a generous dollop of butter.

Soda Bread, popular in Ireland, is a form of quick bread which uses baking soda instead of yeast.  The basic recipe uses only four ingredients: flour, baking soda, milk and salt, although as you will see in the recipe below, other ingredients may be added. Once you have made it, be sure to eat it within a couple of days as it can dry out quickly.

The recipe I am sharing is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Joanne Asala’s Celtic Folklore Cooking, and is called Evaline Carney Shea’s Soda Bread:

6 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups raisins

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly stir in half the buttermilk. Add the raisins and then stir in the remainder of the buttermilk. Gather the dough in a ball and turn onto a floured surface. Knead for 2 minutes. Divide the dough into 2 loaves and shape each into a round. Put on a greased baking sheet and cut a cross in the top of each loaf.  Bake for 45-50 minutes. Wrap each loaf in a damp cloth and cool on a rack for at least 6 hours before eating.

One of my favorite treats when I was a child was a Scotch Egg. A hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat and breaded is the perfect snack and great to take on picnics, plus they just taste great! I haven’t had one in years since I would have to make them myself here in the US and my husband can’t eat eggs, but here’s the recipe so I can feel nostalgic….

To make 6 Scotch Eggs, you will need:

6 hard boiled eggs, chilled

1 lb sausage meat / breakfast sausage

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

oil for frying (yes, these are fattening!)

Divide the sausage into 6 portions. Shell the eggs, roll in flour, and then use your hands to press the sausage around the egg.  Dip in the beaten egg and roll in breadcrumbs.

Fry in hot oil for 4-5 minutes. Drain.

They can be eaten hot or cold. Personally, I like cold but to each his own.

Today’s ingredient is oats and although I know everyone is familiar with them, they form such a staple in Scottish cookery that it is important to know the different types.

Most of us think of oats and we think of porridge. I have particularly nasty memories of trying to scrub porridge pots in a Scottish hotel. The most common oats used in porridge are rolled oats. The finer the oat, the quicker the cooking time so instant oatmeal uses crushed oats which are almost powdery in their form. Then you have Scotch oats, also known as pinhead or steel cut oats. They are the least processed but also need the longest cooking time to create your morning porridge. They all have the same nutritional value but the resulting porridge will have a different consistency, depending on what type of oats you have used.

So what else can you use them in? I am a big fan of oatcakes, a dry oat-based cracker. They’re hard to find in the US but have a low-GI value, are low in fat, and are great with cheese and pickle.

Oats are also a key ingredient in haggis and some sausages, acting as a filler. Then of course you have desserts - oat cookies, flapjacks,  crumble, and so on. There’s a lot more to the humble oat than porridge. How about this scrummy sounding recipe for Cranachan, courtesy of the BBC :

250 ml fresh double cream

1 tbs thick heather honey

1 tbs Scottish whisky

1 tbs toasted oatmeal

2 punnets of fresh raspberries

Whisk the cream with the honey and whisky. Fold in the oatmeal and serve on top of fresh raspberries. Serves 4, no cooking required, but some good Scottish ingredients.

How can anyone not want to try making something with the charmingly Scottish name of “Clootie Dumplings.”

So what is a clootie?  It is a strip of cloth which the dumpling is wrapped in for cooking. According to Wikipedia , “the saying “Ne’er cast a cloot til Mey’s oot” conveys a warning not to shed any clothes before the summer has fully arrived and the may flowers are in full bloom.”

A Clootie Dumpling is a traditional dessert made with dried fruit and suet. The mix is then wrapped in the cloth (or clootie) and simmered.

Here’s what you need:

1lb self raising flour

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 cup suet

1 cup sugar

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

8 oz currants

12 oz raisins

half pint milk

1 apple, peeled, cored and grated

1 tbs treacle / golden syrup

Sift flour and spices together, then mix in sugar, breadcrumbs and dried fruits.  Add the suet. Stir the treacle into the milk then pour the mix into the dry ingredients. Mix to form a dough. Scald a pudding cloth (cotton muslin),dust with flour and put the dough on the cloth. Tie the cloth securely into a ball but leave room for the pudding to swell during cooking.

Place an upturned plate in a large pot with enough water to come half way up the pudding. Bring the water to a boil, the put the pudding in the pan. Cover and boil gently for 3 1/2 hours. Note that it must boil continuously so when it needs to be topped up, do so with more boiling water.

Remove the pudding from the pan, unwrap the cloth (carefully!) and dry the pudding in a warm oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy! (Recipe courtesy of Scottish Cooking )

It seems unfair to let a week of Welsh cooking pass without mentioning leeks. A national symbol of the Welsh, some countrymen still celebrate St. David’s Day by wearing one of these vegetables in their buttonhole. It remains one of the staples in Welsh cooking and so I’m including here a recipe for a simple but nutritious Leek Broth.

1 oz butter

6 leeks - be sure to wash them thoroughly and then cut into inch long pieces

3 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 carrot, peeled and cubed

1 pint of chicken stock

salt and pepper

1 1/2 pints milk

1 tbs fresh parsley

Melt the butter in a pan and gently cook the vegetables until they are soft but not brown. Add the stock and season with salt and pepper. bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add the milk and heat but do not bring back to a boil.

Stir in the parsley and serve with a good crusty bread, grated cheese and some crumbled bacon.